ANGRY residents in Kirkby Fleetham are urging the county council to review its drainage system after several homes were flooded during a freak ice storm last Friday.

The storm hit the village at about 4.30 and lasted half an hour. Roads quickly became rivers, flooding homes, dislodging manhole covers and decimating flowers and trees.

One resident who has meteorological measuring equipment in his garden estimated from his readings that the equivalent of an inch of rain fell in just 20 minutes.

Mrs Robin Illman, who lives with her 86-year-old disabled husband, Henry, in Kirkby Lane, said the ground floor of their cottage was under 2ft of water within minutes of the storm breaking.

She said: "It was very frightening. My husband suffers from Parkinson's disease and I came home to find him struggling with two sandbags at the front door. I started trying to bale the water out with a bucket but it was useless; the water just kept rushing in."

This is the second time in 11 months that the Illmans' home has been flooded, but this was by far the worst incident, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Mrs Illman added: "It really was horrendous. All the furniture and electrical equipment is completely ruined."

She said she believed the problem was caused by surface water drains being blocked and unable to cope with large amounts of rain water.

"The council came out to the drains just two days before this happened, but the drains are soak-aways and the water just does not go," she added. "I think the council really has to review the situation. Every time we have any serious amount of rain, the road turns into a lake."

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said the road had been cleared and residents who had spoken to the divisional engineer during his visit to the village on Monday were happy with the way the council had dealt with the problem.

He added: "It was a freak of nature and no drain in the world could have coped with the amount of water that fell in such a short time.

"The gulleys are all clear, so there is no question of anything being blocked. It was just sheer volume and the drainage could not cope with it."